What great companies do well

This paper reports on the characteristics of successful firms observed in the US, UK and Singapore. It was clear that there were key attributes in common between successful firms in each country. These commonalities stems from both the similar conditions/threats in each developed economy as well as from the fundamentals of sound business practice in any given market. It was striking how frequently the shared success traits were seen, given the differences in size, country, import/export focus, geographic location and industrial sector of the companies. Singapore, Boston and the UK all face similar challenges of manufacturing in a high wage first world economy. All three countries are successful economies, all are experiencing a decline in the numbers of people employed in manufacturing and a relative decrease in manufacturing as a proportion of GDP. The lessons learnt from studying companies in each economy are striking yet simple.